How to make 'camp counselor' shine on your resume!


​With our help, camp can and will be the experience on your resume that lands you your dream job, making you stand out from everyone else. 
  1. Become an Intern at camp. Camp in and of itself is a full fledged business with many different aspects such as marketing, human resources, hospitality, operations and finance.  Think about your career goals and how you may be able to achieve them at camp while being a counselor. Camps offer school credit AND paid internships. 
  2. Camp is a place for networking. There is no better networking than with your camp family.  The bond you make with campers and fellow counselors lasts a lifetime.  We cannot tell you how often we  have networked with camper parents, former campers, counselors and alumni.  Any true former camper will also appreciate the value of “Camp Counselor” when they see it on your resume.  In fact, it is a huge icebreaker on interviews and allows you to convey the passion and energy you would also bring to the workplace.
  3. Take something tangible away from the experience. Identify opportunities where you can blog for your camp, or produce a video...seek out and create content that you can put on your resume or college application.
  4. Help employers understand what “Camp Counselor” means*.  Camp offers arguably more career-building skills, hand-on experience and networking opportunities than any office internship; skills such as oral communication, work ethic, multi-cultural collaboration, creativity, leadership, social skills, problem solving and critical thinking.
  5. Learn more about yourself at camp. After camp you may understand things about you that you never realized before.  It may help re-focus or shift your career decisions in the future.  For example, before camp you may have wanted to go into PR (Public Relations), but after a summer of dealing with different personalities, sharing, developing, coaching and mentoring, you may decide to go into HR (Human Resources)!

How to Talk About Camp in an Interview


​We recently asked a former counselor how he is able to extensively discuss my camp experience in my business school and post-MBA job interviews. Here are some great examples that you can also consider:
  1. As a counselor, I learned how to successfully work on a team with my fellow staff to execute a common goal, sometimes under stressful situations.
  2. As an Assistant Group Leader, I managed staff who were often several years older than me, a skill that is very important to fast career growth in any company or industry.
  3. As an Olympics General, I learned how to handle unexpected additional responsibilities, further improved my management skills by placing me in charge of an even larger number of counselors and campers with little notice.
  4. I gained experience working with international staff members across various native cultures and languages, which has become increasingly important to employers in today’s globalizing landscape.
  5. I developed my confidence in public speaking and executive presence by leading evening activities, and being onstage in front of the entire camp.

​These skills are incredibly important in all career paths, and ones that you will never gain by making copies, organizing files, or fetching coffees at a traditional undergraduate-level internship.